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sociology ms mccarthy > subcultures > Flashcards

subcultures Flashcards

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Sociology 101 flashcards
1
Q

define youth culture

A
  • the way youths live and the norms/practises/values they share
  • it is seen in their shared symbolic systems eg. style, vocabulary, behaviour
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2
Q

definition of a youth subculture

A

-defined as a culture within its own distinct norms and values (as well as being part of a wider culture)
- stand out in terms of style, dress, music, attitudes

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3
Q

positive views of youth culture

A
  • praised for is novelty, energy and creativity
  • generates new fashions, new language, new art and new ideas
  • often part of protesting injustice and demanding a better future (helps society progress)
  • provides a time for experimentation mistakes and then being able to put them behind and move forward
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4
Q

negative views of youth culture

A
  • viewed as ‘sturm und drang’
  • linked to out of control hormone
  • a type of consumer culture and young people become a target for big corporations wanting to sell them things
  • exploitational
  • socialises children into a selfish mindset that only cares about appearances and pleasure
  • introduces too young children to sexual content, bad language, violence, drugtaking (‘kidults’)
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5
Q

what is a ‘spectacular subculture’

A
  • highly visible subcultures of the 1950s-70s
  • had very flamboyant and instantly recognisable styles and often had confrontational attitudes
  • studied by the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) and Birmingham Uni
  • eg. teddy boys, mods, punks, skinheads
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6
Q

skinheads

A
  • famous for shaved heads, work boots, jeans, braces and buttoned down shirts
  • ‘uniform’ represents WC pride
  • 2 waves:
    1: 1960s grew out of the mod subculture
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7
Q

what was going on in 1945-50s

A
  • end of war
  • introduction of the Welfare State, NHS, increased pensions, education etc
  • American culture started influencing British culture eg. rock n roll, cinema
  • mass immigration from the Caribbean
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8
Q

1960s

A
  • post war economic recovery
  • age of The Beatles
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9
Q

1970s

A
  • economic crisis
  • the UK went into severe economic downturn
  • Winter of Discontent,
  • high unemployment rates and strikes in most industries
  • social liberation for women (through contraception)
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10
Q

1979/1980s

A
  • Thatcher
  • rolled back the welfare state ad and increased privatisation of national industries eg railways
  • embrace of capitalism
  • mass immigration from parts of India, Bangladesh and East Africa
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11
Q

1990s

A
  • rise of Blair and New Labour
  • ‘Cool Britannia’ - rise of Britpop, boom of music and fashion industries
  • most prosperous decade for the baby boomers (buying houses for cheaper, starting families)
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12
Q

2000 - the present

A
  • age of the internet
  • rise of social media and mass global communications
  • rise in terrorism
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13
Q

what are the 7 different factors in the social contraction of youth

A
  • demographic trends
  • schooling
  • the media
  • the economy
  • globalisation
  • consumption
  • style
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14
Q

explain how demographic trends can have an effect on youth culture

A
  • post war baby boom
  • those born in the 40s / 50s were teens at the time at which youth culture was a prominent factor British life
  • may explain why young people became so visible - there were more of them
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15
Q

explain how schooling can have an effect on youth culture

A
  • the increase of young people may be why schooling was prolonged (increased to leaving at age 16 minimum)
  • the trend of the increased leaving age means a notably better educated young generation and a decrease in unemployment
  • however, it also prolonged the period of growing up, spending time with friends and socialising with peers
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16
Q

explain how the media can have an effect on youth culture

A
  • crucial role in the creation of youth
  • media is aimed primarily at young audiences and transmits messages and images of different styles/trends
  • Thornton (1995) claims that the media are largely responsible for the creation of youth culture and subcultures
  • she uses the concept of SUB-CULTURAL CAPITAL to explain how young people gain knowledge and experience of different subcultures (that bring high status) from different forms of media
17
Q

explain how the economy can have an effect on youth culture

A
  • the economy benefits from the increased schooling age
  • a better educated and more mature workforce profits economy
  • the gov now pays the Educational Maintenance Allowance to young people living on low incomes as an incentive to stay in education
  • young people fill out the part time work gaps
  • meaning that they have the disposable incomes to spend on forming and joining youth cultures
18
Q

explain how globalisation can have an effect on youth culture

A
  • modern young people are influenced by global products and trends coming from the different styles worldwide
  • Americanisation of the youth market is not a new thing - eg 1950s Teddy Boys
  • now: basketball clothing, tech imported from abroad
  • plays a huge role in the creation of subcultures
19
Q

explain how consumption can have an effect on youth culture

A
  • since the 1950s, young people have been targeted by companies because of their spending power
  • the unique position of the youth with spendng power and parental spending power explains why youth culture has emerged and spread
20
Q

explain how style can have an effect on youth culture

A
  • due to the consumer led market and process of globalisation style is a key feature of the UK
  • the accessibility and importance of style in shaping identities was largely a recent trend
  • critical to the image of SENSATIONAL subcultures
  • postmodernists believe that we live in a society where what we you wear, how you wear it and where its from is all that matters
21
Q

name the key functionalist thinkers on youth culture

A
  • Parsons (1962)
  • Parsons (1942)
  • Eisenstadt (1956)
  • Abrams (1959)
22
Q

FUNC - what did Parsons (1962) believe about youth culture

A
  • argued that ‘youth’ as a social category only emerged due to changes in the family associated with the development of capitalism
  • in pre-capitalist societies, the transition from childhood to adulthood is/was marked by an initiation / rite of passage of some kind
  • even before capitalism in western societies these ‘initiations’ exited eg. marriage (youth did no exist)
23
Q

FUNC - what did Parsons (1942) believe about youth culture

A
  • important transitional stage during a potentially stressful time wherein an individual must learn to leave the security of the family and become an independent person
  • important that individuals break the ties with their parents and develop the independence to start their own families
  • gives them experience of independence and develop skills
  • youth is the rite of passage
24
Q

FUNC - what did Eisenstadt (1956) believe about youth culture

A
  • saw youth culture as a way of bringing up young people in society
  • during this isolated phase between childhood and adulthood there could be a risk of stress and anomie
  • this is where youth culture becomes very important, providing a sense of belonging
  • young people can ‘let off steam’ and find their place in society - in an ACCEPTABLE way (controlled by the agencies of social control)
  • this period of rebellion is important and essential to growing up
25
Q

FUNC - what did Abrams (1959) believe about youth culture

A
  • ‘teenage consumer’
  • that the emergence of youth culture was linked to the emergence of a distinct group with SPENDING POWER
  • began to be targeted by the media and businesses
  • essentially, youth culture was created by the media
  • (link to Thornton)
26
Q

define social integration

A
  • feeling as though you belong to a community and social group within society
  • so they feel solidarity with others and learn to share value consensus
27
Q

define homogenous

A
  • a group of society with individuals that are all the same, sharing the same norms and values
28
Q

evaluation of the functionalist view

A
  • generalisation of youth culture as a whole, and did not account for individual subcultural differences
  • lots of aspects of social life aren’t considered
  • eg. neo marxists focused on the impact of social class on the development of distinct youth subcultures
  • many of these thinkers came from white middle class american men, about the white middle class subcultures
29
Q

which functions do functionalists belief ‘youth’ has

A
  1. to manage the transition from childhood to adulthood
  2. management of social pressures
  3. management of psychological stress
30
Q

(FUNC) explain the youth function of managing the transition from childhood to adulthood

A
  • ‘youth culture’ is a way of bringing up young people in society
  • during the isolated period of childhood to adulthood - Parsons (1962)
  • ‘youth’ is a social category due to emerging changes in the family with the development of capitalism - Parsons (1962)
  • latent function of youth culture is to help young people transition
31
Q

(FUNC) explain the youth function of managing social pressures

A
  • provides a set of values to share and give them social integration
  • the WC system is hard and can cause anomie
  • youth is a period of transition, especially for WC boys who suffer the most because they are no longer valued for who they are in the family but rather what work they can do in the harsh factory life
  • they feel the most pressure from society so they form subcultures
32
Q

(FUNC) explain the youth function of managing psychological distresses

A
  • allows people to let off steam during a time of STURM AND DRANG (Stanley Hall)
  • agencies of social control are there to prevent the ‘letting off of steam’ from going too far
33
Q

RESEARCH PROFILE - Margaret Mead and the Samoan tribes

A
  • visited Samoa in the 1920s
  • the inhabitants had little contact with the outside world
  • studied 68 girls in 3 villages using ethnography to observe their behaviour
34
Q

RESEARCH PROFILE - what did Margaret Mead’s research challenge

A
  • the idea that adolescence is a period of Sturm and Drang (Stanley Hall) because of the biological changes that happen around puberty
35
Q
A

sociology ms mccarthy (2 decks)

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